Lit. clarification for the artisan-builder. The best known manual of construction and building design. It is based on oral tradition and simple manuals known to have existed in the Muromachi period. The ratio and proportion of structural parts began to be recorded during the early 17c. From these sources, Heinouchi Yoshimasa 平内吉政, the head of an ancestral line of master carpenters originally from Wakayama and Kyoto, was able to put together instructions for his son, Heinouchi Masanobu 平内政信 (?-1645) who wrote the SHOUMEI in 1608. In 1610, Yoshimasa, in an addendum, sternly exhorted his son and succeeding generations against revealing their secrets of design and construction to other carpenters and their families. The Heinouchi clan was the official master carpenter's family for the construction department of the Edo bakufu 江戸幕府. The original SHOUMEI was brush-written in five scrolls, each containing specific proportions and ratio of parts in minute detail. Rough sketches of building types were also included, as well as the proportion of all wooden parts and even notations about various individuals' experiences. When working on Wakayama Tenmanguu 和歌山天満宮 and Izumo Taisha 出雲大社 in Shimane prefecture, Heinouchi Yoshimasa admonished all carpenters to not only skillfully construct the building, but to strive for excellence in wood proportion, mathematical calculations, carving and drawing. Only copies of this text exist today. The oldest extant is owned by the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering, and is dated between 1697 and 1727. SHOUMEI consited of the followiing five scrolls:
1. MONKISHUU 門記集, dealing with various gates.
2. SHAKISHUU 社記集, dealing with shrines, including buildings, gates and fences such as *tamagaki 玉垣.
3. TOUKISHUU 塔記集, discussing pagodas and *kurin 九輪 with nine rings.
4. DOUKISHUU 堂記集, dealing with temples including main halls, priests' quarters, belfries, and pagodas.
5. DEN'OKUSHUU 殿屋集 about palaces the noh stage, and a gate called *heijuumon 塀重門.